Do some receivers upscale from 480 to 720 ?

My brother-in-law has gone ahead with purchasing a Sony HS51 projector (the 720 / 768 line 3-LCD unit with an automatic iris for better black levels); now we're trying to figure out what receiver and DVD player to get -- specifically whether it is worth paying a fair amount extra to get HDMI switching on the receiver (since the previous models are all available at hefty discounts now).

The reviews of the HS51 seem to indicate that IQ on the HS51 is really good when feeding it at native resolution through HDMI but only so-so when feeding it standard resolution via component inputs, which makes one think that the scaler in the projector isn't so good.

Since high-res DVD players are going to fetch up eventually I was suggesting Rob get an inexpensive DVD player for now and spend the $$ when Blu-Ray hits the market, but if the HS51 scaler isn't so good that might not be such a good choice. The options seem to be :

- inexpensive DVD player, component interconnect, live with the gritty scaler

- DVD player with good scaler and HDMI out, wire HDMI directly to the projector, no way to get HD content into the projector

- DVD player with good scaler and HDMI out, receiver with HDMI switching, everything happy

There used to be a lot of posts claiming that HK receivers could upconvert video but they all turned out to be false; presumably some receivers DO offer this functionality ?

If so, I guess the questions are (a) what receivers will upconvert to 720p, (b) how good is the scaling, and (c) what the heck should my brother-in-law buy ?

EDIT -- I can't find any reviews that talk about IQ when running standard definition into the projector via HDMI... presumably you CAN run SD over HDMI, can't you ? I doubt this would work any better than SD via component (the problem has to be the scaler, not the ADCs ?) but I guess I should add it to the list of possibilities if anyone makes an inexpensive DVD player with HDMI but no scaler...

Thanks in advance,
John

If memory serves me correctly, I believe the new Yamaha RX-V2600 upscales to 720p and 1080i. I'll have to double check to make sure, but I'm pretty sure that's correct.

Sutter

Got this from Yamaha's website.

In reply to:
HDMI Audio and Video Handling, Fully Analog Video Up-Conversion, including onto HDMI, De-Interlacing and Up-Scaling to 1080i/720p, XM Satellite Radio Ready, Multi-Room Custom Installation and CINEMA DSP/THX Select2.

Sutter

Interesting. Thanks !!

No problem man, you're welcome.

Sutter

If you want to read more about it, here's the manuel.

http://www.yamaha.com/yec/customer/manuals/PDFs/RX-V2600_e(U).pdf

Sutter

John, have you and your brother considered the Oppodigital OPDV971H? It has a DVI output, uypscales to 720p, and comes with both a 5' DVI to DVI cable, and a 6' DVI to HDMI cable. Of course, if you're running a cable to a projector, you'd have to get a DVI to HDMI cable the proper length for your run. Or, you could get an HDMI to HDMI cable the proper length, and put an HDMI to DVI adapter at the end connected to the Oppo.

I'm not sure what your brother has set for his "inexpensive" parameters, but the Oppo costs only $200, and has just scored a 98 on the DVD Benchmark Test at Secrets of Home Theater & Hi Fidelity. That makes it the top rated DVD player in the Benchmark tests, scoring 2 points higher than the $3500 Denon DVD-5910. Read the text under the score.

That oughta keep your brother satisfied until the HD players come out.

There have been issues with this player (as with EVERY player), but Oppo has been incredibly quick to respond to owner's complaints, and offer firmware updates. There have been times when their customer service has answered an email question in less than a half an hour............on a Sunday. They just came out with a new remote and offered it to all owners for a $5 shipping fee. It's still not a Fantastic remote, but it's an improvement, and those of us using a universal remote don't really care about the remote's quality, anyway.

Don't even consider this player unless you intend to use the DVI output.

In reply to:
here's the manuel

Poor Jose always gets left out.

What do you mean Peter, does the link not work?

Sutter

He's looking for a manual. Not Manuel

Oops, heeheehee, darn typo's. I always misspell that word. Sorry about that. lol

Sutter

>>John, have you and your brother considered the Oppodigital OPDV971H?

No, but I ran across it this afternoon and it seems like we would be fools not to look at it. No idea where to get it in Canada but I'm sure I can find it somewhere.

Thanks !!

I don't know much about shopping in Canada, but Amazon carries it.